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Video: Rebooking your flight, hotels after hurricane

Closed captioning of: Rebooking your flight, hotels after hurricane

>>>this morning on "today's" travel, the impact of irene, the powerful storm left 10,000 canceled flights over the weekend. what do you need to do if you need to rebook today?
kate
maxwell is editor and chief in jetsetter.com. welcome back. this is the problem. first of all, do we have any idea when the airports are going to be fully up and running again?

>>yes, we do. just about all airports are up and running now and flights are going to be leaving newark and kennedy from midday today.

>>but you've got planes that are out of place. you've got crews that are out of place. you've got airline personnel who have trouble getting to the airport. it's going to be a rocky start.

>>it's going to take several days for things to get back to normal.

>>you have a great piece of advice. if you need to get online to book a leisure trip today or a pleasure trip, don't do it this week.

>>don't take any unnecessary travel this week.

>>but also, don't jam the airline phone lines trying to book leisure travel for six months from now if people need to rebook their flight.

>>absolutely. let the people who need to get home get home first.

>>you tell the people make sure you have the ticket and confirmation their plane is leaving before they go and crowd the airport.

>>absolutely. don't turn up at the airport without know that your flight is going to leave and your on it.

>>what about amtrak?

>>they're getting back to normal, but amtrak from philadelphia to boston is still not running. boston to d.c. is still not running either.

>>and in terms of driving, i was watching a local news report here in new
york
yesterday. a huge section of the new
york
state through way was closed. how do you find out what lies ahead on the roads?

>>check your local nbc station. website i like is traffic.com. you plug if your start point and end point and it will show you hazards along the way and closures and flooding ray long the way.

>>thank you. my glasses are here. appreciate it. let's talk about rebooking your flight now. what's the best way to do it? what do you need to have in terms of information for the airline?

>>please go online if you can. the phone lines are still jammed. one example, a friend of mine took three hours over the weekend to get through to her carrier trying to get back from hawaii. she now has a flight from
san francisco
and doesn't have another one back to the new
york
area until wednesday night. so go online if you can. also, try and follow your airline on
social media
like twitter.

>>this was obviously an act of
mother nature
.

>>yeah.

>>so airlines i would imagine, have they waived the rebooking fee?

>>they have.

>>you don't have to worry about that.

>>no.

>>how much time do you have to rebook your
night flight
?

>>varies from airline to airline. jetblue issal loug it until
september 10th
. most airlines until the end of this week.

>>most people are going to be in line for a refund because of things they couldn't do because their trips were canceled. do you need proof for a refund that you were actually sidelined because of a hurricane?

>>no, it was if you are leaving or going to the effected area. but
hotels
, yes, they might ask you for your flight details or proof of your driver's license or something like that.

>>by the way, sticking with the airlines for a second. you say if the airline has a difficult time accommodating you because of overcrowding on flights you want people to consider alternate airports?

>>the new
york city
area is going to be the most crowded in terms of arrival and departures. if you can fly somewhere out, do that.

>>let's say you're stuck in new
york city
, they budgeted a certain amount of their vacation or travel budget for their
hotels
. now they're forced to spend an extra night in
hotels
. what are their options?

>>unless you have
travel insurance
, not a lot you can do about that. do ask your hotel if they're prepared to offer you a discount on an extra night. but you're going to be out of pocket, i'm afraid.

>>are some
hotels
offering discounts?

>>some
hotels
, are, definitely.

>>what about something like you had booked a
beach house
. you had booked a vacation. how do you go about getting a refund if you don't have
travel insurance
?

>>rentals are a little bit more of a
gray area
than
hotels
.
hotels
generally are allow i don't guess tou rebook or allowing refunds. check your contract. did you have weather destruction insurance, and ask if you can get either a refund or if you can rebook.

>>by the way, we should mention some
credit cards
automatically cover you for mishaps while you travel.

>>some of them do. airlines and
american express
cards often do.

>>but if you now got burned because of what happened with
hurricane irene
and next time you want to buy
travel insurance
, what do you suggest?

>>this is
hurricane season
. june through november, if you're going to be traveling, definitely think about buying
travel insurance
and book it the day you book your trip. as soon as the hurricane was named, it will not be covered because it is no longer an unforeseen circumstance.

>>cruise lines
, did they get battered?

>>they did but they tend not to offer refunds because they're still running shs just going to a different port.

>>kate
maxwell.
kate
, thank you very much. as always, good information.

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On Monday, airlines repositioned aircraft flown out of the region ahead of the storm, leaving Tuesday as their target for returning normal service to the storm-struck region.

Airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia bustled Monday after being closed for much of the weekend. The week before Labor Day is always a busy one for airlines, so they struggled to cram travelers stranded by Irene onto already-packed planes.

New York's three major airports — John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York and Newark Liberty in New Jersey — were shut down on Saturday as the storm bore down on the mid-Atlantic. The three airports serve about 100 million passengers annually.

Smaller airports in the area are still closed. Stewart International Airport is expected to resume flights Tuesday. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airports, said Teterboro Airport in New Jersey is partially flooded and will reopen once damage can be repaired.

Airlines began winding down schedules on Friday in advance of Irene. They canceled more than 13,000 flights, including 1,500 on Monday, according to the online tracking service FlightAware.com.

Delta Air Lines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and JetBlue Airways were most affected.

Vaughn Cordle, an analyst and consultant with AirlineForecasts.com, estimated Irene could shave $200 million to $300 million off annual profits of the top 10 U.S. airlines.

The disruption could hit JetBlue Airways Group the hardest as it is based in New York, he said, cutting earnings this year by an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent. Other carriers with bigger networks could take a 3 percent to 5 percent profit hit, he added.

Changing travel plans
Darryl and Isabel Fleming arrived at LaGuardia at 5:30 a.m. Monday in an attempt to catch a new flight to Miami after their original flight was canceled. They needed to be in Miami in time for their 5 p.m. departure on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship for a weeklong sailing in the Bahamas. The trip was supposed to be their final vacation before the school year started for their 5-year-old daughter Gabriella and 11-year-old son Nathanael.

Darryl grimaced at the prospect of losing the $4,000 the family spent on the flights and cruise. Both were hopeful that insurance purchased through a travel agency for the cruise might yield a refund, but had to wait until the agency opened this morning to find out.

Others were luckier. Joshua Brechner, 21, was scheduled to fly out Sunday to return to Chicago for his senior year of college at Northwestern University. When he and his father looked at the weather forecast last Thursday, they decided to pre-emptively reschedule his flight for today. “Knowing how things can be when there’s weather issues, we called them up early and at that time they’d just gone to no-fees for ticket changes,” said Joshua’s father, Berl Brechner.

Chris Sumang, 29, also decided to reschedule his flight for Monday. Sumang’s girlfriend was nervous about flying to Miami last Friday, so the couple called American Airlines on Thursday evening to rebook.

Sumang, who lives 20 miles northeast of LaGuardia in Rye, N.Y., arrived a few hours early anticipating heavy delays or possibly a cancellation. “I was not going to chance it,” he said.

The couple had booked a weeklong stay at a hotel in the Florida Keys, a trip that is now cut short by three days. “We’ve been planning this trip since before summer,” said Sumang. “I didn’t expect the storm — I was upset when it came. It’s all right, though.”

Hans Illguth said he and his wife, Joy, were “worried sick” that their Monday afternoon flight on Frontier would be cancelled. The couple, who are from Bundaberg, Australia, and have spent the past three weeks touring the U.S., feared their flight to Las Vegas would be canceled. Their stay in Sin City will be their last before returning home to Australia.

The Illguths said they tried to cram in as much sightseeing in New York City as possible before the storm came. They visited the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Empire State building and other tourist attractions in two short days. They even rode an empty subway car before the city’s mass transit was shut down on Saturday at noon and also snapped a photo of sandbags on Wall Street.

They were relieved to learn that their flight was on-time.

Disrupted service
Subway service in New York was fully restored at about noon on Monday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. Ground transportation started easing back into service on Sunday evening.

There's no easy way to squeeze all the displaced passengers onto scheduled flights, especially with airports around New York — the nation's busiest airspace — reopening Monday. And ground transport alternatives remain limited, with bus and train service disrupted into Monday as well as along the East Coast.

"We're coming into the Labor Day holiday weekend, so a lot of those flights are already full," Lehmacher added.

'Frustrated'The storm also was creating problems for Americans traveling outside the U.S. who now find themselves unable to get home.

Raymond Cielo flew to the Dominican Republic with his wife and two daughters on Aug. 19 — only to have his vacation plans washed away by Hurricane Irene. "It rained for four days straight," Cielo told msnbc.com.

Cielo, of Woodland Park, N.J., had planned to fly home Aug. 27, but learned late Friday that their Saturday flight had been canceled.

Despite his status as a Platinum Elite member with Continental, Cielo spent hours on the phone — at $2 a minute — trying to reach the airline, only to learn that the first available flight back to Newark airport is Sept. 4.

He said his extended hotel stay in Punta Cana will cost an additional $3,000, not to mention unexpected extra time off work. "We are frustrated and just want to get home even though it is beautiful here now," said Cielo.

Nicole Whitney Sobel was supposed to fly home to Boston from Cancun, Mexico, on Sunday. However, she found herself stranded in Mexico for a few more days after learning that her connecting flight in Charlotte, N.C., was canceled.

"I was disappointed when I found out I wouldn't be home in time because I have appointments and meetings that I need to get back home for, which I now had to cancel and re-schedule from Mexico with limited phone access," she told msnbc.com.

However, the 25-year-old freelance writer, who is in Mexico on a work-related trip, says things could be worse. She could have been stuck at the Charlotte airport trying to arrange accommodations and transportation.

Instead, she's at a luxury resort in Riviera Maya. "The sun is out today, and guests are laying out by the pool and on the beach," she said.

She hopes to get rebooked on a new flight home as early as Tuesday.

Airlines said passengers should call ahead and make sure they have a confirmed seat before going to the airport. (Click here for rebooking tips as well as a list of airline Twitter feeds and websites.)

When blizzards hit the East Coast in December and February, it took some airline passengers days to get home. That could happen again.

Sara Hesselsweet of Norwalk, Conn., and her family were to fly home Sunday from vacation at Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border. After their flight was canceled, American Airlines told her it couldn't find seats for her, her husband and 2-year-old son until next Saturday.

So the family decided to fly from Reno, Nev., to Dallas and on to Chicago, where they would rent a car to drive back to Connecticut.

"We checked Philadelphia, D.C., Boston, the Carolinas — we couldn't get a flight anywhere," said Hesselsweet, sitting amid a pile of carry-on bags in the Reno airport.

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

A house destroyed by Irene sits in a river in Rochester, Vt., on Wednesday, Aug. 31. Homeowner Jon Graham, right, removes items from the home with the help of friends.
(Vyto Starinskas / AP)
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Henry Rhines tries to salvage anything he can from the debris field that was once his home in Columbia, N.C., on Aug. 30. Several houses along U.S. 64 south of Columbia were destroyed when a tornado touched down before Hurricane Irene's wind and rain. Rhines wasn't home at the time, evacuating to Rocky Mount earlier in the day. "That tornado put a hurting on us right on down the line," he said.
(Shawn Rocco / The News & Observer via AP)
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Keith Beavers examines his tobacco crop following Hurricane Irene in Mount Olive, N.C., on Aug. 30. Far from the beach towns that took Hurricane Irene's first hit, the storm inflicted some of its worst damage on inland farms from North Carolina to New York as crops were pummeled by wind, scalded by salt spray and submerged by floodwaters. Some farmers, like Beavers, are reporting total losses.
(Jim R. Bounds / AP)
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Standing on a neighbor's porch in Stumpy Point, N.C., Darnel and Debbie Talbert lean on each other as Nationwide insurance agent Paul Tine checks on their policy on Aug. 30. The Talbert's house was heavily damaged by Hurricane Irene.
(Shawn Rocco / The News & Observer via AP)
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Greg Austin of Avon, N.C., on Aug. 29 tries to save a large fish that was washed out of a local pond during the storm surge from Hurricane Irene. Avon is one of the Hatteras Island communities cut off due to breaches in N.C. Highway 12.
(Chuck Liddy / The News & Observer via AP)
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Flooding over a road from the Farmington River is seen in the aftermath of Irene in Simsbury, Conn., on Aug. 29.
(Jessica Hill / AP)
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Firefighters from the Skyline Lakes Fire Department try to extinguish a fire fed by a natural gas line, which ruptured causing the house to explode, after the Pompton River overflowed its banks during a record flood, in Pompton Lake, N.J., on Aug. 29.
(Chip East / Reuters)
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Gino Borova gives a ride to his neighbor, Tom Soboleski, as they make their way through floodwaters after surveying their homes in Pompton Lakes, N.J., on Aug. 29. The Ramapo River flooded the area.
(Julio Cortez / AP)
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The top layer of blacktop on River Road lies peeled off due to AuSable River flooding in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Aug. 29.
(Mike Lynch / Adirondack Daily Enterprise via AP)
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Stranded travelers rest at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Aug. 29. The couple lying down is scheduled to take a flight to Dallas on Aug. 30. New York-area airports reopened on Aug. 29 as airlines gradually restored service after canceling more than 11,000 flights.
(Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images)
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Residents walk along Highway 12, the main road that connects Cape Hatteras National Seashore to the main land which was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in Rodanthe, N.C., on Aug. 28.
(Jose Luis Magana / Reuters)
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An unidentified male hangs on to a branch in a rain swollen creek as he waits for rescuers in New City, N.Y., on Aug. 28. He and three others went tubing in the creek and had to be rescued by New City and Stony Point fire departments' water rescue teams.
(Peter Carr / AP)
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Firefighters put out a fire at a rental house on Aug. 28 after it was destroyed by Irene at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Rodanthe, N.C.
(Jose Luis Magana / Reuters)
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A motorboat passes a submerged pickup truck on Main Street in Washingtonville, N.Y., on Aug. 28, following heavy rains from Irene.
(Paul Kazdan / AP)
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A Fairfield Beach Road home is submerged in Pine Creek in Fairfield, Conn., as treacherous weather caused by Irene came through the area on Aug. 28.
(Cathy Zuraw / The Connecticut Post via AP)
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Billy Stinson, left, comforts his daughter, Erin Stinson, as they sit on the steps where their cottage once stood before it was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in Nags Head, N.C., on Aug. 28. The cottage, built in 1903, was one of the first vacation cottages built on Albemarle Sound in Nags Head. Stinson has owned the home, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, since 1963. "We were pretending, just for a moment, that the cottage was still behind us and we were just sitting there watching the sunset," said Erin afterward.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Bravo Company 1st of 120 out of Whiteville ride through rural Goose Creek Island handing out bags of ice on Aug. 28, in Lowland, N.C. Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina, creating a storm surge of up to 8 feet in some areas of the Pamilco Sound.
(Sara D. Davis / Getty Images)
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With the skyline of New York in the background, people fly a kite at the Erie-Lackawanna Park along Hudson River after the pass of Irene in Hoboken, N.J., on Aug 28.
(Eduardo Munoz / Reuters)
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A car sits submerged on Main Street in Hightstown, N.J., on Aug. 28, after Peddie Lake overflowed from Irene. Businesses and shops along the street were flooded.
(Jim Gerberich / AP)
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Crews from the New York Department of Environmental Protection work to unplug storm sewer grates on the Van Wyck Expressway under the Grand Central Parkway overpass in the Queens neighborhood of New York on Aug. 28. Widespread flooding of interstates and low-lying areas kept crews busy overnight and throughout the day.
(Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)
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Ken Smith clears the street in front of his family's house after Irene hit the Rockaway beach section of Queens, N.Y., on Aug. 28.
(Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters)
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Mark Wade trips while surfing with his friend Craig Busick, left, in a large puddle in front of the Board of Education in Centreville, Md., on Aug. 28, after Irene.
(Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images)
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Danica Quinn, 9, and her dog Scruffy, stand in her front yard on C Street in Bridgeton, N.C., on Aug. 28. Quinn and her family were in their home during Hurricane Irene when winds toppled a pine tree that crashed through the roof of their living room. No one was hurt, though the house was destroyed.
(Byron Holland / New Bern Sun Journal via AP)
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Lechelle Spalding pulls a boat up to her flooded home after a storm surge on the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Aug. 28.
(Charles Dharapak / AP)
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Annie Gullett, right, gets help from her daughter Katy Caroline, center, and friend Louise Sanderlin sorting through damaged items in her gift shop after it was flooded in the wake of Hurricane Irene on Aug. 28 in Manteo, N.C.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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High winds from Irene knocked down five large trees in front of the East River Cooperative Village apartment buildings along Grand Avenue on Aug. 28 in New York City.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
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Waves and storm surge pound the boardwalk and the beach at first light as Irene slams into Asbury Park, N.J., on Aug. 28.
(Chip East / Reuters)
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Brian Grant, left, and Bob Bianchini, engineers from the public works department out for a safety inspection, are slammed by waves and storm surge pounding the boardwalk and the beach at Asbury Park, N.J., on Aug. 28.
(Chip East / Reuters)
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Waves kicked up by Irene crash into homes on Wilbur's Point in Fairhaven, Mass., on Aug. 28.
(Peter Pereira / The Standard Times via AP)
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Josh Holloway, son of homeowner Jack Holloway, stands near the front door as family members look over the damage to their home in Lewis, Del., on Aug. 28.
(Suchat Pederson / The News Journal via AP)
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Hurricane Irene's wind and rain pour down as North Cove Marina employees work to secure gangways, docks and boats as seawater comes over the marina's low walls just before high tide in the World Financial Center Plaza on Aug. 28 in New York City.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
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Pat Valent helps friends clear out belongings from their storm-damaged beach home in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach, Va. on Aug. 28. Irene caused damage over such a broad area that the total damage is not yet known.
(Steve Helber / AP)
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A woman walks by downed trees in Brooklyn during heavy rain and winds from Hurricane Irene on Aug. 28 in New York City. While Hurricane Irene has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, it has knocked out power to more than 3 million people.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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A lighthouse-shaped building is battered by storm surge and winds from Hurricane Irene in Montauk, New York on Aug. 28.
(Lucas Jackson / Reuters)
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Jeremy Wilkins of the Kitty Hawk Fire Department removes a tree that was downed by Hurricane Irene on the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Aug. 28,
(Charles Dharapak / AP)
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Rising water laps over the sea wall at Battery Park in New York City on Aug. 28. Hurricane Irene bore down on a dark and quiet New York early Sunday, bringing winds and rapidly rising seawater that threatened parts of the city.
(Mary Altaffer / AP)
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A bull dozer clears sand and debris from Hwy. 12 near Avon, N.C. on Aug. 28. High winds from hurricane Irene and overnight flooding affected much of the Outer Banks.
(Steve Early / The Virginia-Pilot via AP)
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The Coney Island boardwalk in New York is obscured by sand and rain as Hurricane Irene reached the area on Aug. 28. Rainfall overflowed sewers and seawater lapped at sidewalks at the edges of New York City from densely populated lower Manhattan to the far reaches of Queens as a weakening Irene made landfall over Coney Island.
(Craig Ruttle / AP)
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A street signs rest in a Baltimore, Md. street, Aug. 28, after falling over during Hurricane Irene. The storm caused some power outages but no significant damage or flooding throughout the Baltimore region.
(Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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Manhattan is hit by Hurricane Irene on Sunday, Aug. 28. The hurricane hit New York City’s skyscrapers with fierce winds and threatened to flood the financial district after killing ten people along the East coast on Saturday.
(Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images)
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IKONOS satellite images show before, Dec. 27, 2010, and after, Aug. 28, 2011, views of an area north of Rodanthe, North Carolina following Hurricane Irene. The after view shows broken sections of Highway 12 caused by the hurricane.
(Geoeye / Reuters)
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Heavy rain falls in Battery Park in New York City as Hurricane Irene hits Manhattan on Aug. 28. Battery Park and other areas in Lower Manhattan were evacuated in advance of the storm.
(Jason Decrow / AP)
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People walk in Times Square in New York on Aug. 28, as Hurricane Irene hits the city and Tri State area with rain and high winds.
(Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images)
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Waves crash onto a road as Hurricane Irene arrives, Aug. 28, in Southampton, New York. Irene is expected to move through the area today with heavy rain and high winds.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Floodwater surrounds a home as Hurricane Irene arrives on Aug. 28 in Southampton, New York. Irene is expected to move through the area today with heavy rain and high winds.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Branches litter an alley in Virginia Beach, VA on Sunday, Aug. 28. The hurricane made landfall in North Carolina and Virginia early Saturday morning and has now moved further up the East coast to New Jersey and New York later today.
(Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images)
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A man walks past a damaged store front on a boardwalk in Ocean City, Md., on Aug. 28. Authorities in Ocean City said that there were no reports of major damage.
(Patrick Semansky / AP)
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The sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach, Va. on Aug. 28. Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina and Virginia early Saturday morning and has now moved further up the East coast.
(Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images)
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Large waves from Hurricane Irene pound the Ocean City pier on Aug. 28 in Ocean City, Md. During the night Hurricane Irene past by the small resort town causing power outages, minimal flood and wind damage.
(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
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Jackie Sparnackel has to abandon her van and her belongings after she ventured to check out the storm-damaged pier in Frisco, N.C., on Aug. 27.
(Chuck Liddy / The News & Observer via AP)
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Firefighters work to remove the body of an 11-year-old killed when a tree fell and severely damaged this home in Newport News, Va., on Aug. 27.
(Rob Ostermaier / Newport News Daily Press / MCT via Zuma Press)
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Jarod Wilton looks at the floodwaters rising to his doorstep on Aug. 27, in Alliance, N.C., as Hurricane Irene hits the coast.
(Chuck Burton / AP)
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Kelly Harvey, who evacuated her St. Leonard, Md., home, plays with her daughter on Aug. 27 at a hurricane shelter set up at Southern Middle School in Lusby, Md.
(Steve Ruark / AP)
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Two men push a cart through an otherwise deserted Grand Central Terminal in New York on Aug. 27. Metro North has suspended service and Amtrak is running on a reduced schedule due to Hurricane Irene.
(Marjorie Anders / NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority via AP)
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The victim of a fatal car accident near Interstate 795 in Goldsboro, N.C., is recovered by crews on Aug. 27. The two-car accident occurred at an intersection where traffic signals were not working due to a power outage caused by Irene.
(Robert Willett / The News & Observer via AP)
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People shield themselves from blowing sand and rain as they look over the beach during Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27 in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Cody Levy, left, Ian Crossman, and Christian Van Vliet run out onto a receded Albemarle Sound in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., on Aug. 27. The sound had moved out due to the high winds of Hurricane Irene.
(Shawn Rocco / Zuma Press)
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Turnstiles are barricaded with caution tape shortly before the New York City Subway system suspended service for the first time ever, as preparations are made for Hurricane Irene, in New York, on Aug. 27.
(Mike Groll / AP)
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A worker places plywood on the windows of a home as he and other workers secure it against the winds of Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27, in Water Mill, N.Y.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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One of two people rescued from a sailboat uses a line to make their way onto the beach on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk, Va., on Aug. 27. The two were rescued from the boat that foundered in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. A rescuer, left, waits for s second person to exit the boat.
(Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
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Police walk through an area which is under mandatory evacuation orders in the Rockaways, N.Y., on Aug. 27, in preparation for Hurricane Irene.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Arseni Flax, center, and his mother Nelly wait for their subway train to leave as they bring along their parakeets while evacuating the Coney Island section of New York, on Aug. 27.
(Craig Ruttle / AP)
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The sun breaks through as surfers hit the ocean on Aug. 27, off of Pawleys Island, S.C. after Hurricane Irene moved through the area and north along the eastern Atlantic coast.
(Steve Jessmore / The Sun-News via AP)
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Water in a parking lot enters a storm drain as winds and high tides from approaching Hurricane Irene start to hit the area, on Aug. 27, in Ocean City, Md.
(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
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Debbie Austin gets off her boat as winds and high tides from approaching Hurricane Irene start to hit the area, on Aug. 27, in Ocean City, Md.
(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
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Roman Alvarez, left, and Bob Alvarez use plywood to secure a business against the winds of Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27, in Southhampton, N.Y.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Pawleys Island police closed the North Causeway to Pawleys Island as the marshes filled with water at high tide, forming white caps and began crossing the road on Aug. 26 in Pawleys Island, S.C.
(Steve Jessmore / AP)
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Milk refrigerators sit almost empty at a Target store as New Yorkers stock up on supplies in preparation for Hurricane Irene in Queens, New York on Aug. 26.
(Andrew Gombert / EPA)
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Traffic backs up at The Washout at Folly Beach as people come out to watch the waves created by Hurricane Irene and cheer on the few surfers that came out on Aug. 26 in Folly Beach, S.C.
(Sarah Bates / AP)
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Cars pack the westbound lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway on Aug. 26, as thousands of people evacuate the barrier islands along the southern New Jersey coastline ahead of Hurricane Irene.
(Tom Mihalek / Reuters)
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An 83-year-old gets help finding a taxi in New York City on Aug. 26 after she and some 400 others were discharged or moved from a hospital in a low-lying area due to Irene.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
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A shopper passes by empty shelves while looking for bottled water at a store at Rockaway Beach in New York on Aug. 26.
(Allison Joyce / Reuters)
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Ambulances wait to transfer patients out of Coney Island Hospital as evacuations began in low-lying parts of New York on Aug. 26.
(Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images)
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Customers stand in line outside a Home Depot in Springfield, N.J., on Aug. 26. More than 50 people put their names on a wait list for a rumored shipment of generators.
(John Makely / msnbc.com)
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A lifeguard stand is removed along a beach in Atlantic City, N.J., on Aug. 25, ahead of Hurricane Irene.
(Danny Drake / The Press of Atlantic City via AP)
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A message is left for Hurricane Irene on one house, as a resident boards up another on Aug. 25 in Nags Head, N.C.
(Charles Dharapak / AP)
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Ismael Ramirez, right, fastens a plywood board to a house an Ortley Beach, N.J., while his brother Jorge Ramirez measures the next board. The handymen are boarding up the house for a New Jersey Shore resident in preparation for Hurricane Irene on Aug. 25. Gov. Chris Christie asked New Jersey shore visitors to get out by midday Friday because the hurricane is poised to be a "serious, significant event" with possible flooding across the entire state.
(Julio Cortez / AP)
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Workers at Alligator River Growers harvest corn in Engelhard, N.C., on Aug. 25, in advance of Hurricane Irene as it threatens to make landfall in North Carolina. The storm's winds and torrential rains could mean devastating losses for those who grow corn, cotton, soybeans, tobacco and timber.
(Gerry Broome / AP)
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Shoppers stock up on water from rapidly emptying shelves at a grocery store in Far Rockaway in New York on Aug. 25. Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged New York City residents living in low-lying areas to line up a place to stay on high ground ahead of a possible evacuation this weekend.
(Seth Wenig / AP)
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Winds from Hurricane Irene whip through Nassau, Bahamas, on Aug. 25. The center of the storm stayed offshore but still downed trees and caused power outages.
(Lynne Sladkybahma / AP)
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Heeding the mandatory visitor evacuation, the Wyn family of Cleona, Pa., pack up at their rented beach house in Nags Head, N.C., on Aug. 25.
(Charles Dharapak / AP)
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Tugboats help Navy guided missile destroyers, the Jason Dunham, left, and the the Winston Churchill, leave the Norfolk Naval Station on Aug. 25. as Hurricane Irene approaches. The U.S. Navy ordered more than 60 ships out to safer waters so they could better weather the storm.
(Bill Tiernan / The Virginian Pilot via AP)
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Residents of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, on Aug. 24 look at damage left by Irene along the Nigua River. At least three people were killed and more than 37.000 people were evacuated in the country due to the heavy rains caused by the hurricane earlier in the week.
(Orlando Barría / EPA)
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